Letter: What did the city think would happen?

The Concord police have tallied crimes involving homeless people. And recently the police were called to a hotel for possible homeless persons engaging in sex in a bathroom and stealing bathroom paper products.

When the homeless are arrested for trespassing from “camps” and run out of all areas and streets, what does the city expect the result to be?

Did the city attempt to figure out the results of running the homeless out before arresting them? There doesn’t appear to have been forethought in building a kitchen for feeding the homeless yet arresting them for staying within the city.

We seek and accept grants for police motorcycles and armored vehicles, but what about grants to deal with the homeless to avoid constant arrests? There seems to be plenty of money to target homeless people for arrest, incarceration and court time, yet we still have few answers to combat the root problem.

It may be time to compare the costs of using closed schools for homeless shelters rather than using money to arrest the homeless in an attempt to discourage them from staying in Concord. This may prove cost-effective if shelter is traded for community service rather than the revolving door of arrest and hide-and-seek from the police.

The undermanned police have more important things to do than rustle up the homeless from tents only to recycle them through the system for the inevitable pickup on another shift.